Category: Sports

The year 2017 has ended, and so has the season for sports. There were some historic wins, inspiring stories, huge scandals, some stars rising in glory, some fading away to oblivion and many more. Here are a few stories that made headlines in 2017.

Winning and losing streaks: The Cleveland Indians created history by not losing a match for three weeks and 22 games. That makes it the longest winning streak without a tie in the history of baseball and only the second longest unbeaten record in sports behind the 26 game record of the New York Giants.
It was a sad year for the UConn women’s basketball team as they saw their winning streak come to an end after staying lossless for many years. They ended a 111 game winning run that started from the month of Nov 2014 and is the most for a team in Division 1 basketball. But the coach was not too disheartened after the loss.

Trouble in NFL: President Trump recently used an expletive to explain about the players who refused to sing the national anthem. That has turned out to be the sports story of the year. The comment made by Trump was not well received by the players as well as the whole nation. While Trump has not stopped blasting NFL on Twitter, sponsors say that the reason for the protest is due to low profit. Meanwhile to make matters worse for NFL, Colin Kaepernick has filed a collusion grievance against NFL owners.

NBA offseason stories: Every year stars are traded, but 2017 has seen an unprecedented number of stars finding new homes and that too not without some melodrama. Chris Paul followed James Harden to Houston, Paul George and Carmelo Anthony went to Oklahoma City. Minnesota got Jimmy Butler. Gordon Hayward after much hype chose Boston Celtics, and they then grabbed Kyrie Irving in a deal with the arch-rivals Cleveland Cavaliers. The reason for the request is the talk of the town, and as per inside sources, it was to escape from LeBron James. But Irving chooses not to reveal the reason for such a request.

The Ball family: This family is in the news for all kinds of reasons. The first son Lono was crowned as the UCLA college basketball star in his only season and was listed as a No2 player by the Los Angeles Lakers. His brother, Angelo, also enrolled at UCLA but was arrested for a shoplifting case in China. He signed a contract with a team in Lithuania. The youngest in the Ball family, LaMelo is also joining his brother in Lithuania. The father, LaVar claimed that he could beat Michael Jordan. He also demanded that one of the female referees be replaced in an AAU game. He also recently tweeted against Donald Trump getting all the attention from Americans.

Serena still rules: She played only two events in 2017, but she will remain an inspiration for all, both on and off the field. She won her 23rd Single’s Grand title by beating her sister Venus in the Australian Open and became the first to have so many grand slam titles. In April, she revealed in a tournament about her pregnancy and will give birth anytime now. Post delivery, she is scheduled to start playing in a match in Abu Dhabi.

Riding high on the success of London 2012, Glasgow 2014 and Rugby World Cup 2015, UK Sport has announced its new plans to enable the country to maintain its position as a leading host to major sporting events. It is believed that the UK government is investing about £30m in the next eight years so that they can bring most of the significant events related to sports to the town and cities of Britain. They have already bagged events like the
2018 Hockey World Cup
2018 Boccia World Championship
2019 Netball
2019 World Road cycling championship.

They are also hosting the 2019 Men’s world cup, 2019 Solheim Cup, Euro 2020 and Rugby League World Cup 2021. They are also keenly pursuing the 2022 commonwealth games and the 2021 UEFA Women’s championship and also considering many other sports. The projections also state that many significant events that will be hosted by 2017-2025 will have an estimated 7.2 million viewers and a pinch of £440m.

Tracey Crouch, the minister for sport, said recently in an interview that the UK has a great track record of hosting such mega-events and that will also help in showing Britain to the world. It can also be a contributor to the economy as well as encourage people in the UK to take up sports as a participant or a volunteer. She also said that their focus is on maintaining their position as a world leader in hosting events and the plans they have drafted to achieve this will help them do just that.

The Chief Operating Officer of the UK sport, Simon Morton while speaking at the strategy launch said that from the London 2012 to Glasgow 2014, through all the championship, be it World or European that is hosted along with the world circuit events, the UK shows why it is considered and recognized as the best and the most conducive place to host some of the most prominent sporting events.

These events will also help the British athletes with the preparation for the next Olympics and Paralympics. Also, with spectators passionate about their sports and an excellent infrastructure for world-class sporting venues, the UK is a complete package. To top it, the administrators have the urge and the drive to keep improving and also innovating so that they do not lack in any department. Simon said that their strategy and the targets they have set for themselves will help them maintain their reputation as a primary host for international sporting events not just now, but in the future too.